The safety culture ladder is a safety maturity model that was adopted by the Maritime industry following an IMO meeting in the Hague in 2000. It is now being used within major companies within the Industry to ultimately transform their safety center to a profit center. Here are its five stages and their characteristics, starting from the top (most mature).

Where are you and your company placed?

Level 5: Generative Managers know what’s happening – the workforce tells them Bad news is sought out so failures can be learned from People are constantly aware of what could go wrong Safety is seen as a profit center

Level 4: Proactive Resources are allocated to anticipate and prevent incidents Management is open to bad news, but still focused on statistics The workforce is trusted and feels involved in safety

Level 3: Calculative There are lots of audits and lots of data to describe things The new Safety Management System is assumed to be enough People are surprised when incidents still happen Bad news is tolerated

Level 2: Reactive Safety is taken seriously every time there is an accident Managers try to force compliance with rules and procedures Many discussions are held to re-classify incidents Bad news is kept hidden

Level 1: Pathological – We leave it to the lawyers or regulators to decide what’s OK There are bound to be accidents – this is a dangerous business If someone is stupid enough to have an accident, sack them Bad news is unwelcome – kill the messenger To achieve a Level 5 Generative stage, you need to have established a set of Injury Prevention Principles to help guide your thoughts, behaviors and decisions. You need to empower every individual and to have a conversation about injury prevention and be prepared to speak up if they think a practice is unsafe.

A safety program such as ‘STOP+THINK’

This summarises exactly what each person needs to do – just stop and think.

Take that time, whether it’s before we start a job, or simply start the day’s work. Stop and think about the potential risks and hazards. Stop and think about the potential injuries that could occur. Stop and think about what could kill you in this situation. Stop and think about the impact that an injury or fatality can have on you, your family and your workmates. Taking this time to stop and think take courage and consideration, it means demonstrating the safety behaviours that our values drive.

Ocean Time Marine Injury Prevention Principles

All incidents, injuries, fatalities and occupational exposures are preventable. No task is so important that it cannot be done safely. Management is responsible for creating and maintaining a safe work environment. We are all responsible for preventing injuries to others and ourselves. Everyone is empowered to stop unsafe behavior. We will promote off the job safety for our people.

Let Ocean Time Marine can assist you with all your SMS requirements. Find out more today